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Does anyone have any ideas on whether online movies are excempt from BBFC certification when they are published/broadcast by a UK company?

By my guessing they are, but pointers to any test cases would be appreciated.

My understanding is that it only becomes a crime if it is hosted in the UK (as long as it doesnt contain kiddy porn or animals etc).

I dont think it is illegal to make HC porn in the UK (at least I hope not!!) but to distribute it without a certifiucation is illegal. If you host abroad (in the US, for example) then the UK authorities cannot prosecute you as the distribution is being done from the US.....

I think....

(I make adult vids which I don't submit for BBFC certification which is why I am posting as Anon with no email address)

i seem to remember a case last year of a uk resident running a kiddy porn site from a server based abroad, on the assumption that it would not be prosecutable within the uk. however, when it came to trial, he was indeed found guilty of distributing illegal materials in this country.

so, i guess the deciding factor was the individual concerned having as his place of residency the uk (scotland or england and wales, i can't remember).

maybe magoo or some other leagle eagle can shed more light on the matter.

My understanding of things (and I may be incorrect because the rapid rise of the net has created a whole new legal minefield) is that regular porn is governed by both the laws of the country where the server is based and the country where it is downloaded. For example perfectly legal for UK individual or company to run a h/c site with the server in the states because the person producing and uploading it is not distributing it in the uk but merely in possession of it (possession not an offence thankfully or everyone in this forum would be in the nick). I think it would be different if someone in a strict muslim country tried setting up a porn site from the states due to the laws against possession in their own country.
I suspect thats where Woodgnomes cited case differs because the person running the kiddy-porn site was breaking the law by even having the images in his possession and then committed an even more serious offence by allowing them to be seen by others, the offence of distributing obscene pictures of children is not covered by pornography law but by chid protection law. So possessing or distributing child porn to anyone anywhere on the planet from the uk (even via an overseas server is illegal-and rightly so). This would also apply to someone sending a private email containing such material. None of this applys to consenting adult porn.
People producing proper legit (consenting adult) porn for overseas sites are not breaking the law. In the same way as people producing uncertificated videos and flogging them to Your Choice (i.e. Ben, Terry etc) are not doing anything wrong because it is not them doing the distribution but YC who are outside UK. Mind you, their UK distribution agents have still got to be very carefull as they discovered a few years ago when they were targeted by the Blue Meanies.

Thanks for the feedback folks - much appreciated.

I'm not sure I buy the line that having a server located outside the UK is sufficient protection from the BBFC & Co - if the supply chain begins in the UK and ends in the UK then the use of an offshore server is likely to be considered to be incidental.

(Otherwise it'd be legal to take orders for videos in the UK, and then ship videos to an overseas location that then shipped them back to the UK customer?)

Can anyone point me in the direction of a solicitor well versed in this area of the law? Either in this forum or by email.

The only way around this would seem to be if the offshore server was run by a company that bought the material and then re-sold it to UK customers, as is the case with UK video producers and the publishing companies elsewhere in the EU who re-sell their material.

The BBFC rules look like a massive fucked up nightmare - as things stand it's easier to sell guns!

Tony. The BBFC (British Board of FILM Classification) is only concerned with films or videos intended for public circulation. The Video Recordings Act 1984 does not affect distribution by the internet. The BBFC are not concerned with regulating the internet only videos,DVD and cinema as far as I am aware.

Agreed, in that the BBFC are not currently regulating online movies. But the Video Recordings Act has a definition of video broad enough to probably include online movies:

(2) "Video work" means any series of visual images (with or without sound)-

(a) produced electronically by the use of information contained on any disc or magnetic tape, and

(b) shown as a moving picture.

(3) "Video recording" means any disc or magnetic tape containing information by the use of which the whole or part of a video work may be reproduced.

22 (2) For the purposes of this Act, a video recording contains a video work if it contains information by the use of which the whole or a part of the work may be produced;

Guess I need a lawyer!